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MOSCOW, September 6Russia calls on official Chisinau to show a responsible approach to fulfilling its obligations, as well as to refrain from politicizing the practical issues of bilateral cooperation, including in the energy sector, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Minister of Energy of the Republic, Victor Parlikov, announced the results of the audit of the historical debt of Moldovagaz to Gazprom, saying that it amounted to $709 million as of the end of March last year. Of this amount, 276 million dollars have not been documented by either Moldovagaz or Gazprom, another 400 million dollars are not recoverable — they have expired. In this regard, the Moldovan government proposes to pay Gazprom only $8.6 million, and challenge the rest in court. Gazprom also said that the audit of Moldovagaz's debt to it was carried out unilaterally, it cannot affect the validity of the debt, the Russian company does not agree with the statements of the Moldovan side on the debt for the supplied gas and will defend its rights.
«PJSC Gazprom has been a reliable supplier of energy resources for decades. We call on the official Chisinau to take a similar responsible approach to fulfilling its obligations, as well as refrain from politicizing the practical issues of bilateral cooperation, including in the energy sector,» Zakharova said in a statement published on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
In October 2021, the Moldovan authorities agreed with Gazprom to extend the contract for the supply of gas to the republic, subject to an audit of the Moldovagaz debt in 2022. «Gazprom» reported that it reserves the right to completely stop gas supplies to Moldova due to a gross violation of the deadlines for concluding an agreement on the settlement of the historical debt of JSC «Moldovagaz». Only in August last year, the Moldovan government signed an audit agreement with the Norwegian company Wikborg Rein Advokatfirma and the British Forensic Risk Alliance&Co. It was expected that the first results of the audit would become known in January-February, but the deadline for the audit was extended until April.
A state of emergency is in effect in Moldova, which was announced, among other things, because of the energy crisis amid problems with a shortage of gas and a sharp rise in the price of energy resources. Since December last year, Moldovagaz has been receiving gas from two sources — from the state-owned Energocom and the Russian Gazprom. Russian gas is sent to Transnistria, while the rest of Moldova uses gas from accumulated reserves (more than 200 million cubic meters). Tariffs for gas in Moldova increased almost seven times in 2022, and for electricity almost four times.